Moving toward vegetarian

We eat a lot of meat. Tea tonight was home made sausage rolls and a pasta and sauce with added chicken. I'd like to increase our plant food intake and reduce our reliance on meat for a variety of reasons. I lack confidence in cooking vegies (broccoli always over cooked etc) and if I try and do this but I don't do it well it will backfire on me. DH always seems to feel hungry if he hasn't eaten meat. Sandwiches and soup don't fill him.

Vegetables don't need to be cooked very long at all. I only give broccoli about two minutes from frozen, dropping them into rolling boil water.

Can you start with, for example, a baked yam next to a piece of chicken, with any sides being vegetarian? Don't take that piece of chicken away yet, keep 1 meat component to the meal, but not sausage roll AND meat sauce. Have one or the other? But don't shrink overall portions, just change the ratios.

I used to put red beans in with mince for tacos to stretch it out and then discovered that my children were picking out the beans and leaving the mince LOL so I switched to a lovely vege filling that uses red beans and rice. I make a lot of vege risottos or risottos with very little meat in them and my husband never complains about being hungry

My recommendation would be to make sure you replace the meat with another form of protein to make sure you feel full. So increase your dairy (eg more cheese, yogurt etc.) include lots of eggs and introduce things like lentil, chickpeas, beans and tofu.

Some good combinations are brown rice and red lentils (you can throw some lentils in with the rice as you cook it or make daal and serve with rice) and chickpeas and cous cous. These are complete protein as is quinoa by itself.

If you're making soup a really hearty minestrone is good with whatever veg you like, a can of chickpeas and some small pasta shapes, you can also throw a small handful of quinoa in as well. This fills my DH up!

I would start with stir fry because it's really easy and the veg won't over cook. You can start with using chicken if you want but not use much and then swap to tofu instead.

A really easy meal we do often is a selection of vegies steamed or roasted a small serve of grain like brown rice, cous cous or quinoa and some tofu or a hard boiled egg or two. You can add a bit of grated cheese to the steamed veg if you want to boost the protein too.

increase the protein or carbs, to fill and sustain the 'not hungry' feeling.have water with mealshave a light dessertextra large saladboiled eggs in the salad etc

there are heaps of good non-meat recipes out there and techniquesand this from someone who is unintentionally (kinda, in the 'not vegetarian' sense) eating less meatwith a DH who very much likes his meat n carbs

oh to brocc and veg not overcookingsteam them. turn them off when there's still a slight crunch and then they don't lose their colour.

reduce your meat intake, and as pp's have said, use high protein veges, like beans, or eggs and cheese.Also buy low gi grains like basmati rice or brown rice, wholemeal pasta etc.

DH and I experimented with food this week just gone, because DS was on camp, and less inclined to experiment. We made a 4 bean salad with chopped capsicum, tomato, onion, avo, feta cheese, cucumber, spinach and rocket and a lovely homemade dressing and also warm lamb cous cous salad. Very little meat was needed with the bean salad, and 2 slices of lamb roast for the cous cous. Dh was not hungry at the end of either meal, and there was a lot more leftover than I thought there would be.

Spinach and ricotta lasagne is always a good way to start too. tastes meaty.

You mentioned sausage rolls in your op and it reminded me of some my friend made for her sons party. She put sweet potato, grated zucchini and carrot in with the sausage mince with herbs and they were quite literally the best sausage rolls I have ever tastEd. They were 50 per cent vege.

In spite of being in an almost constant state of motion while looking after the kids and trying to keep things together at home, it can seem as though parents have managed to get nothing on the to-do list done by the end of the day.

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